2021-12-12 Third Sunday of Advent - Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Today's Gospel focuses on the Visitation, Mary's visit to Elizabeth. The angel Gabriel told Mary that her cousin was pregnant, but he did not tell her to rush to her side. The Gospel, however, tells us that “Mary set out and went with haste...” She may have known that Elizabeth was the object of gossip because she was barren. Could she have known that Elizabeth was lonely, with only Zachariah to talk to—and—that now in her pregnancy, she didn't even have that because Zachariah had become mute. Perhaps Mary knew that their coming together would enable them to be compassionate companions for each other, each one a cure for the loneliness of the other.
Both women experienced alienation—Elizabeth during her long years of barrenness and Mary for being pregnant before marriage. Yet they acknowledged that their pregnancies were gifts from God. Earlier in the Gospel Luke tells us that Elizabeth said, “This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favourably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.” Later, as the expectant mothers met, the child in Elizabeth's womb leapt for joy and she declares, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb... Blessed is she who trusted that the Lord's words to her would be fulfilled.” Mary responds with the Magnificat: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord….”[1]
Elizabeth and Mary, experienced isolation in their respective communities but upon seeing each other, each one recognized God's presence in the other. Each one recognized the gifts from God within themselves and within the other.
But today, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a time to talk about another story of alienation. It is a time to review the theme of Mary's love and respect for the poor, despised and downtrodden. For example, Our Lady appeared to Bernadette, who would have been homeless if one of her mother's relatives had not let the family live for free in a one-room basement. She appeared to three peasant children in Portugal during a time of internal and external political turmoil. We know that times of turmoil always have a detrimental effect on the lives of the poor. It is during such times that Our Lady makes herself known. She doesn’t appear to the rich or the ruling classes but to the poor and those without a voice.
In 16th century Mexico, Juan Diego's existence as an Indigenous person made him subject to the Spanish government’s policy in which Indigenous people were required to provide tribute and free labour to the equivalent of a feudal lord. The “lord” was responsible for their welfare, their assimilation into Spanish culture, and their Christianization. However, that Christianization did not entail the Indigenous people being allowed to worship in the same space as the Europeans. They were to worship separately, outside in a designated space within the Church yard enclosure. For the Aztecs and other Indigenous people of Americas, it was a time of destruction: destruction of their religion, their culture, and their freedom.
When Mary appeared to Juan Diego, Our Lady knew something the Spanish never bothered to learn. That is, that the Indigenous People, are a religious people; that their God is one Great Mystery, whom they worship under various guises, depending on the needs of the community at a given time. She knew that the Aztec gods and goddesses were to them aspects of that One Great Mystery. So, where she appeared was of great significance, Tepeyac Hill was the sacred spot where the Aztec people prayed and honoured, Tonantzin, which in Nahuatl means “Our Sacred Mother”. The symbols of her appearance suggest this knowledge and appreciation. For example, her face is the face of a Mestiza, that is, a woman of European and Indigenous descent. Her attire is full of Aztec symbols: her robe is red meaning wisdom; she wears a black belt representative of pregnancy and of new beginnings; her blue/green cloak of stars hint at the Aztec goddess of the stars and creation,(Citlanilicue). Our Lady also wore Christian symbols such as the cross on her medallion and the angels. However, in keeping with her love for the downtrodden and, most surprising for Juan Diego, is she spoke to him in Nahuatl, his native language, using words of respect and endearment.
I don’t see Our Lady of Guadalupe’s appearance as indicative of her replacing Tonantzin but as a blending of the Sacred Mothers of two of God’s peoples into one Feminine expression of the love of the One Great Mystery for all people. I believe the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe should have been an inspiration for justice and peace between Europeans and Indigenous Peoples. Perhaps that is why she chose to appear to Juan Diego as a woman with a mix of European and Indigenous features. So that at some distant time in the future, it would help us recognize our spiritual connections, so that people of the Americas could move beyond the racism and oppression that foster separateness and inequality, so that we could move beyond the disparities caused by differences of culture, race, and gender.
I think she wants us to respond to each other as Elizabeth and Mary did, each one of us recognizing God's presence in the other. Each one recognizing the gifts from God within themselves and within the other.
The Breath of God within me greets the Breath of God within you, thank you, Happy Feast Day!
[1] [Father Gerry Pierse, C.Ss.R. http://www.bibleclaret.org/liturgy/daily/sundays_pierse/cycleC/C_4thSunAdv.htm ]
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